The Cask Of Amontillado

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The Cask of Amontillado “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Poe’s (rpt. In Michael Meyer, The Bedford Introduction to Literature, 9th ed. [Boston: Bedford, 2011] 727) is about a man named Montresor. Montresor explains to us that because Fortunato has mortally insulted him, he has vowed revenge. However, he has hidden his animosity towards Fortunato because he wants to fulfill his vow without placing himself at risk, since the revenge would not be complete if Fortunato were to retaliate or if Fortunato died without knowing Montresor to be his murderer. He maintains an appearance of good will towards Fortunato and decides to exploit Fortunato's weakness for fine wines. Montresor is successful by being vengeful, determined, and intelligent. First of all, the Montresor is vengeful. We become aware of this character trait when Fortunato insults him, Montresor has had enough. For example, he says, “The thousands of injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge (727). Montresor has now thought of a plan to seek revenged. He then goes to tell us how he would do all of this. He goes to say, “At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitely settle – but the very definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk” (727). Although Montresor is vengeful he doesn’t want to lose anything in the act. For example, he says, “I must not only punish, but punish with impunity (727). A big part of the story is made up of Montresor’s vengeance of Fortunato, avoiding impunity, and successfully killing Fortunato. The second characteristic that describes the narrator is that he is observant. We see that Montresor knows Fortunato’s weakness and wants to use that against him. For example, he says, “He had a weak point – this Fortunato – although in other regards he was a man respected and even feared. He
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